Dera Ismail Khan
District headquarters, 1849–1947
Ḍera Ismaīl K͟hānڈیرا اسماعیل خانڈیرہ اسماعیل خان
Today Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Same place, same name.
Key facts
- Historical name
- Dera Ismail Khan
- Type
- District headquarters
- Coordinates
- 31.8167° N, 70.9167° E(seed dataset)
- Governance
- Directly administered
- Record confidence
- Medium confidence
- Identifiers
- Q1249888
Directly administered by the Governor-General of India, and therefore part of British India in the statutory sense of the Interpretation Act 1889, s.18.
Location
Pin placed at the coordinates recorded for this place. Colonial-era boundaries are not drawn.
Description
Indus-side district head-quarters of the Derajat, a trans-frontier trade town facing the Waziristan hills.
Historical notes
Transferred from the Punjab to the North-West Frontier Province in 1901; the old town was rebuilt after Indus floods in the 1820s.
Administrative history
Administrative parenthood changed over time. Each row states the years it is recorded for, and the source it comes from.
| Years | Relation | Unit | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| from 1901 | Part of | North-West Frontier ProvinceChief Commissioner's Province · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred. | Medium confidencesource |
| from 1901 | Part of | Dera Ismail KhanDistrict · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred. | Medium confidencesource |
Recorded names
Every documented spelling and transliteration held for this place. The historical name is canonical; modern names redirect to it.
| Name | Script | Type | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dera Ismail Khan | Latin | Historical English | — |
| D. I. Khan | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| Ḍera Ismaīl K͟hān | Other script | Alternative spelling | — |
| Dera Ismail Khan Town | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| DI Khan | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| ڈیرا اسماعیل خان | Arabic | Indigenous | — |
| ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان | Arabic | Indigenous | — |
Records and references
- Imperial Gazetteer of India
- Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31), Vol. XI (11)
- Census of India
- Census of India, 1901, Vol. XVII (17): Punjab, its Feudatories and the North-West Frontier Province
Sources
- Database· identityCC0
Wikidata (Q1249888), Wikimedia Foundation
Wikidata, CC0 1.0
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Gazetteer· administrativeLicence unverified
Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago — the 1908–31 text is public domain, but DSAL's digital presentation states no licence; link-out only
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Encyclopedia· generalCC BY-SA
Wikipedia: Dera Ismail Khan, Wikimedia Foundation
Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Archive· descriptionPublic domain
Internet Archive scan: in.gov.ignca.31019, Internet Archive
Scanned volume of a pre-1929 publication (Imperial Gazetteer of India 1908–31 / Census of India 1901); public domain. Digitisation courtesy of the Internet Archive.
Retrieved 2026-08-29
Sources tagged “Licence unverified” are linked to rather than reproduced. Scans and images are only displayed inline where the licence is confirmed permissive.